What is this country coming to when you can’t force your juniors to drink? [Chosun Ilbo, English, HT to reader]
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No more forced drinking
This entry was written by Robert Koehler, posted on May 8, 2007 at 11:57 am, filed under Asides, South Korea. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
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7 Comments
I was never to keen on the forced drinking ritual. Some Koreans say it’s necessary as a kind of truth serum to “get to know someone” before doing business with them, and that it facilitates communication usually not possible in a rigid heirarchical work environment. But maybe they’d be better off just changing the work environment.
I remember at a drinking party when I first came to Korea, a former boss describing how proud he was of his wife and kids, then proceed to get sloshed and grope up the bar girl in front of everyone, ending up on his hands and knees on the sidewalk, vomiting on a tree. The next day it was like nothing had happened.. kind of weird.
Sign of better human rights in Korea. Say what you want about Uri, but without those liberals in the Blue House, court would be less likely to judge like this. However, it’s now time for the liberals to leave and Lee Myung Bak to rule in the post FTA ROK.
This is definitely a step in the right direction. It strikes me as even progressive that a suit like this can be brought and won in South Korea in this day and age.
I can foresee a booming business for lawyers around the country.
Can something which is taken for granted be changed overnight?
Ah, Korea’s “drinking culture.” I’ve seen the same Jekyll-Hyde transformations dokdoforever mentioned, along with guys from the office in fistfights, losing shoes and socks and running down the street barefoot, urinating in the doorway of the bar, setting various things on fire, etc etc.
I doubt the Uri Party had much if anything to do with this judgment.
This is off-topic, but you might have to change your blog list, Marmot. Apparently AMPOTAN isn’t a blog after all:
http://ampontan.wordpress.com/...../#comments
Now if only I could stop forcing myself to drink.
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From the Silly News Desk…
Some news from South Korea. I agree with the court. Unless getting drunk was required as a job qualification by the employer, Mr. Choi was out of line….
[...] Hat tip- Marmot’s Hole [...]